While carpet has its limitations, it remains the only true soft flooring out there. It's fine to put laminate, hardwood, or stone tiles in some areas of your home, but at the end of a long day, chances are you're going to want to kick off your shoes and walk around on the soft, forgiving surface of a lush carpet. Plus, even luxurious carpet is going to be considerably cheaper than many hard-surface flooring options.

Choosing a Carpet Fiber for your Dallas Carpet Installation
Sometimes it's easy to say which choice for a home improvement project is the best one. With carpet and carpet fiber, the situation is a little murkier. Natural fibers, although more expensive, preserve their color and integrity longer than synthetic alternatives. They do shed, though, meaning that, while they continue to look good, they eventually wear out. Synthetic fibers aren't going to shed, but they'll hold onto grime. No fiber is immune to sun exposure, but some perform better than others. Acrylic does the best job of imitating the look and feel of natural wool fibers, and nylon shows solid performance, but both of these alternatives are nearly as expensive as wool. Olefin is a popular, inexpensive choice; the right choice for you is probably some combination of carpeting needs and financial resources.

Choosing Carpet Padding for your Dallas Carpet Installation
Strictly speaking, you don't absolutely need padding for your carpet, but more than 90% of carpet installations have them. They will make your carpet a little more expensive, but they will also double, triple, or even quadruple the lifetime of your carpet. A thick padding will give you a softer, more lush feel, but denser carpet padding will give you the extra durability. Of course, there's no reason, if you have the desire, that you can't have both and really create a luxurious carpet installation.

Cost of Dallas Carpet Installation
For each and every home improvement project HomeAdvisor processes, we collect information to help homeowners make better decisions for their homes. Here's what we found out about the cost of carpet installation in Dallas: While the national average for a carpet installation is about $1,600, Dallas homeowners tend to go over this amount. Probably, this has to do with a culture that boasts the number three fashion market in the country and home decorating tastes to match. If you're on a budget, though, there's nothing to suggest that Dallas carpet installation is inherently more expensive than anywhere else. If you're looking to carpet multiple rooms you, too, will probably go over this amount. Even an expensive carpet installation should be cheaper than laminate or hardwood flooring, which average $4,000 and $5,000, respectively.

Project Length of Dallas Carpet Installation
Homeowners like to have their home improvement projects done now, and carpet installation is one of the few projects that can usually accommodate. Unless you have a difficult floor that must be removed, or several pieces of heavy furniture, it shouldn't be a problem to have your carpet installed in a single day. It may take several days to a week to decide what carpet you want, have it delivered, and get it installed. To get the best carpeting for your home, you should rely on the unbiased advice of Dallas carpet installation contractors. They'll be able to size up your situation, desired budget, and day-to-day activities, and help you decide what you need.

This is what one Dallas homeowner suggested to other homeowners: Do more research and know what carpet you want before purchasing. Don't let a salesperson push you into a decision at measurement time. Take your time making a choice.

Marcus Pickett is a professional freelance writer for the home remodeling industry. He has published more than 600 articles on both regional and national topics within the home improvement industry.